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| The Baker Library is turning out to be my favorite hang out. I'm proud to be a geek! |
Studying Still
Yes I have switched! So goes a popular ad in the Philippines. I have switched to studying mode. I'm sure my teachers in Green Hills, Diliman and Boston would be happy that I am spending my free time accumulating knowledge. I just find it rather ironic that I spent all of my formative years trying to get myself out of school, only to willingly and proudly end up in one yet again a few decades after. Learning indeed never grows old, only the old stop learning.
If you must ask I've just been astounded to the different facets of business and how they eventually converge. How as leaders, our role is to add value to our various stakeholders, not just our shareholders. I particularly enjoy, in no particular order - Strategy, Finance, Leadership, Corporate Accountability, Operations, Negotiations, Business Government and International Economics and Marketing. In short, I just love all the courses that I have been blessed enough to have been given the rare opportunity to re-study. After close to two decades of working, these courses, as have I, certainly evolved. And re-studying it gives it a completely new and richer meaning.Lessons
Negotiation
- When negotiating for a long-term partnership, a show of good will earlier on in the process could spell the difference between winning and losing
- Always be consistent in your pronouncements, a whiff of inconsistency might adversely impact on your credibility
- Always be mindful of all your stakeholders, do not value or prefer one over the other, in your internal and external communications
- In negotiations, don't just think about the short-term gains, go for the long-term value - aspire for what is right and fair
Business Government and International Economy
- Countries today are buying into another country's assets in order to improve its access to "security assets"
- China buying into Australian mines and oil
- Singapore buying into financials
- Countries need to improve its investment climate, and one such area is total factor productivity and unit labor cost
- The issue of immigration needs to looked at dispassionately, and viewed under the prism of a country's long-term economic prosperity
- Australia's immigration policy vis-a-vis its declining manufacturing base and total factor productivity
- US competitiveness being impacted by access to critical talents to fuel its industrial base and human capital needs
- Countries also need to revisit its domestic production capability and its infrastructure
- Ideally a county's consumption, investment, government spending, exports less imports, savings and taxation need to be relatively strong so that it does not become overly dependent on one aspect of its GDP
Strategy
- In assessing strategy Porter's 5 Forces and the Added Value Framework are very powerful analytical tools
- evaluate the relative strengths of the forces and their interactions with each other
- devise a plan that effectively positions the company against its environment
- Changing strategy means changing the whole system that underpins it
- Identify the sources of competitive advantage and know your starting point before setting out
- The President or CEO of a company is the architect of organizational purpose (strategy)
- Strategy is an integrated set of choices
- where it will play
- where it will NOT play
- how it will play
- what it wants to accomplish
- A strategy must have a clear objective (ends), advantage (means) and scope (domain)
